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Europe’s space plane hits turbulent times again

Scientists and technicians across Europe working on Hermes, the troubled
European space plane, have been left in limbo after the main partners in
the project failed to meet a 31 July deadline for agreement on short-term
funding. The next opportunity for France, Germany and Italy to decide a
budget will probably be at a full ministerial meeting of European Space
Agency members in November.

The budget for the study phase of Hermes ran out on 30 June. The original
plan was for the next funding phase to have been approved by the ESA ministers
before then. But their summit was put off until November.

By 19 July, a working party of ESA officials and national representatives
had only managed to arrive at a commitment to reach agreement by 31 July.
Since then, both Germany and Italy are thought to have blocked the bridging
arrangements. Germany is known to be concerned over the cost of Hermes,
which is more than 30 per cent over budget (‘Europe’s ambitions lost in
space’, last issue). Klaus Berge of the German Space Agency, says Germany
will make a decision about further funding in November.

‘It won’t be possible to go on like this. We are working on a tight
rope, just keeping going from one week to the next,’ commented Michel Courtois,
Hermes programme director at CNES, the French centre for space studies in
Toulouse.

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Between 140 and 150 people are currently working on Hermes in Toulouse
as members of the ESA/CNES team. An estimated 1500 people work in industrial
teams.

The interim budget is needed to keep the teams together and fulfil contracts.
‘We knew it was going to be a tough year, but not this tough,’ said Courtois.